


Second Impressions

by Karasuno Volleygays (ToBeOrNotToBeAGryffindor)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: College AU, Happy Birthday to my precious Shallot, Hearing Impaired Tobes, M/M, They are precious babes, please love them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 14:19:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7108714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToBeOrNotToBeAGryffindor/pseuds/Karasuno%20Volleygays
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not many people give a second chance at a first impression, but when Kindaichi Yuutarou manages to make an ass of himself to the guy he sits next to in class, that is exactly what he gets but with very different results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Second Impressions

**Author's Note:**

> This is written for Kageyama Rarepair Week, Day 1 - College AU

It’s the first day of classes, and Kindaichi already wants to drop out of his Sociology course.

It isn’t the professor, who seems like a nice (if bored-looking with yet another crop of fresh faces he won’t bother to remember the names of) guy, and knowledgeable, if the half-dozen books he’s written on the subject  are any indication. It isn’t the syllabus, which promises half the workload of his Calculus course. And it isn’t the classroom, which is a pleasant brick structure with several windows and good lighting.

It’s not even that they have assigned seating. Or, it wouldn’t be if the guy sitting next to him weren’t an asshole.

He doesn’t know his name, but Kindaichi already hates everything about him. His extremely blue eyes, his stupid bowl cut, his resting bitchface, and especially the little trickle of drool at the corner of his mouth as he sleeps his way through their very first day in class.

But as soon as the professor dismisses them for the day, this piece of work is alert and almost the first person out the door.

Brushing off his irritation, Kindaichi decides it’s none of his business as long as the guy doesn’t snore. However, the guy (who he finds out through the grapevine is named Kageyama Tobio) does the same over and over again. Every time they go to class, the sit together while exactly one of them pays attention. It isn’t even an early class, so Kindaichi can’t begin to understand who the hell sleeps this much.

It only takes two weeks before Kindaichi decides he’s had enough. Right as Kageyama bolts for the door to leave, Kindaichi is ready for it and escapes right beside him. Almost running to keep up with Kageyama’s brisk pace, Kindaichi shouts, “Oi! Slow down!”

Kageyama doesn’t turn or acknowledge Kindaichi’s demand, only proceeding on his way to . . . wherever. Growling under his breath, Kindaichi breaks into a sprint and latches his hand onto Kageyama’s upper arm and jerks him to a halt. “Hey, I’m talking to you!”

Eyes wide, Kageyama’s jaw slackens as he looks up at Kindaichi. “What?”

Kindaichi rolls his eyes. “What do you mean, ‘what’? I said I was talking to you, and you’re pretending like you didn’t even hear me.”

“I didn’t.” Kageyama reaches up and plucks out his ear buds. “Sorry.”

Even more annoyed that he hadn’t noticed Kageyama’s headphones, Kindaichi takes a long, deep breath to keep from shouting. It doesn’t work. “Why the hell do you sleep through class? Getting an education might not be important to you, but some of us had to work hard to get here! Show some respect.”

Kageyama flinches at Kindaichi’s diatribe. “I meant no disrespect.” He holds out his wireless ear buds, which Kindaichi doesn’t initially accept, but he does once he sees that they aren’t like every pair of ear buds he’s ever seen.

Taking them into his hand, Kindaichi examines them and their plain beige coloring. “Well, shit.”

With a shake of his head, Kageyama takes them back and puts them back into his ears. “I can still hear without them, but these help make it louder. Keeping my head down helps me focus on the sounds I want to hear.”

Kindaichi buries his face in his hands, hoping the earth will crack open and cast him straight into hell where he belongs. “I am the worst asshole.”

But Kageyama merely shrugs and puts on a pair of very dark sunglasses. “I’ll see you on Monday, Kindaichi-san,” he says before he speeds off, leaving a devastated Kindaichi in his wake.

Class after class passes by, and Kindaichi slowly starts to see the difference in Kageyama. Where he had previously seen sloth, he now sees attentiveness. After consulting his notes from the first day, he easily pairs the factor of Kageyama’s drooling with their professor’s fifteen minute speech about certain topics eliciting physical responses. Namely, a long discussion about the man’s favorite food.

He also notes that, after their first set of quizzes, Kageyama is ranked highly in the class. Highly enough that Kindaichi wonders if his bench mate’s magic headphones would him any good, as well.

Even as he sees it all, though, Kindaichi does not follow Kageyama again, no matter how much he wants to. He wants to say a lot of things, ask a lot of things, but every time he moves to do so, he freezes in his chair and doesn’t move until nearly the entire class evacuates.

It’s halfway through the semester with this vicious cycle before it changes. As Kindaichi takes his leave from the lecture hall, he starts when he sees Kageyama leaned up against the exit door, eyes closed as he hums a mindless tune.

“Kageyama?” Kindaichi asks, noting to hail his classmate by name this time. “What are you still doing here?”

Pushing away from his perch, Kageyama casts a meaningful look at the food court. “Are you hungry?”

Slowly, it all falls into place. Kageyama rushing away from class as soon as it’s up, always headed the same direction with haste. “Oh, my god. You mean _that’s_ where you go when you leave? You’re just hungry?”

Kageyama nods. “I like food. I don’t have to study for it, and I don’t have to hear it to enjoy it.”

“Fair enough.” Kindaichi can’t help but chuckle  as he shakes his head. “You’re a dork, Kageyama.”

Cheeks turning pink, Kageyama averts his gaze back to the food court. “Would you, um . . .”

When he gulps, Kindaichi feels a rush of shame for teasing someone like Kageyama. Not because he’s hearing-impaired so much as he’s probably the most awkward person Kindaichi knows the longer they talk to each other.

Knowing what Kageyama is asking and relieved that he’s still invited, Kindaichi ekes out a smile and says, “Sure.”

They make their way to the food court, debating whether they should head for the curry booth or the noodle stand. It isn’t until a passer-by rolls his eyes and mutters, “Just go to both,” that both Kindaichi and Kageyama chuckle and do just that.

Sitting under the shade of a beautifully large tree, they both trade portions of their meals with each other to get the best of both. When they finish, Kindaichi is sated with food and, he hopes, forgiveness. Head lazily rolling to the side to regard Kageyama, Kindaichi says, “Really, I’m sorry about making an assumption about you. I should have asked.”

At this, Kageyama merely shrugs and collects their paper cartons for disposal. “It doesn’t matter.

But Kindaichi will have none of that. “Of course it matters. I had no right to judge you without knowing you. What the hell is this, middle school?” Kindaichi scoffs. “I’m not that immature.”

“I’m used to it.” Kageyama perches his chin on his knees. “I’m not good at words.”

Kindaichi’s chest clenches at the melancholy radiating off of Kageyama. Draping an arm around his new friend’s shoulder, he says, “You’re good enough. I don’t know you very well, but I think I’d like to.”

Kageyama’s chin raises, wide blue eyes staring unblinking at Kindaichi.

“C’mere,” Kindaichi commands as he tugs Kageyama closer to his side, content with the warmth seeping into his bones. However, his content quickly dissolves into amusement when, this time, Kageyama is actually asleep.

“Yeah, really funny.” But even as he says this, he eases Kageyama’s head into his lap and strokes his hair until he is lulled back to sleep from the disturbance. “See you when you wake up.”

Before he forgets, Kindaichi reaches down to pluck out Kageyama’s sound-enhancing earphones and slides them into his pocket. “Good night, Kageyama-kun,” Kindaichi whispers, hoping there will be a day when he’s ready to say that to this boy when he’s actually awake to hear it.

Yet even as he sleeps, Kageyama murmurs something as he burrows further into Kindaichi’s lap, and Kindaichi’s heart flutters just a bit in reply.


End file.
